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Breaking: Rockets Acquire Thomas Robinson in Multi-team Trade

By John Eby | February 20, 2013 at 7:20 pm

According to reports from several outlets, Thomas Robinson (this year’s 5th overall pick out of Kansas) is headed to the Rockets from Sacramento, Patrick Patterson, Toney Douglas and Cole Aldrich are headed to the Kings, and Marcus Morris will reunite with his brother in Phoenix in exchange for a second round pick. Tyler Honeycutt and Francisco Garcia are also headed to Houston.

The Rockets will send Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas to the Kings for Thomas Robinson, sources tell Y!

bird Breaking: Rockets Acquire Thomas Robinson in Multi team Trade

February 20, 2013 8:00 pm via webReply RetweetFavorite

@WojYahooNBA

Adrian Wojnarowski

Sources: Houston sends Marcus Morris to Phoenix for Suns' 2nd round pick.

February 20, 2013 8:13 pm via Echofon ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Chris_Broussard

Chris Broussard

So to put together again, Patterson, Douglas, Aldridge and Morris go out; Robinson, Honeycutt, Garcia and 2nd round pick to Houston.

February 20, 2013 8:05 pm via TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Jonathan_Feigen

Jonathan Feigen

Update: ESPN reports Rockets are also sending $1 million to the Kings.

Update – Rapid comparison of strengths weaknesses of the two headliner PF’s in this trade: Thomas Robinson averages the exact same number of rebounds as Patterson (4.7) in ten fewer minutes per game, but Patterson bests Robinson in nearly every other category–PER: 15.68 versus 10.88 , True Shooting Percentage: 57% versus 45%, and Turnover Ratio 7.4 % versus 17.3%.

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Oklahoma City Thunder @ Houston Rockets on 2/20/13

By Rob Dover | February 20, 2013 at 6:30 am

The All Star festivities are over and the players from 28 of the teams have headed back on the road to wherever the schedule may take them. When the dust cloud lifts, the Thunder and the Rockets will have assembled to take to the court for a game that, one would hope, should show a few more signs of defensive discipline than the dunk-fests that preceded it. The All-Star Break is an oasis of rest amidst the desert of recovery time that is the regular season grind. The question is, will the players return sharp from the lay-off or rusty from the partying?

The Thunder reached the All-Star Break on their worst losing streak of the season. This sounds like a promising sign until you hear the length of that streak – 2 games. A team that has not lost back-to-back games all year will certainly not be expecting to lose a third on the bounce. They will come into this game with a clean bill of health and with Durant and Westbrook keen to build on the feel-good vibes surrounding the weekend.

The Rockets dropped their final game before the break to the Clippers – tough opponents at the best of times but even more daunting a prospect without the services of Harden. The Bearded One didn’t seem overly affected by his ankle over the weekend, so he should be ready to play. It remains to be seen whether Toney Douglas will have recovered from the hip pointer he suffered against Portland, but with Patrick Beverley there to step in there isn’t much lost in the Rockets’ rotation. Read More »

The Daily Blast – February 20, 2013

By John Eby | February 20, 2013 at 6:00 am

Tradewatch – Marc Stein (ESPN) gives this assessment of the Rockets at the deadline:

The consistent word out of Houston, incidentally, is that the Rockets — long known to be Smith fans — are far more likely to pursue J-Smoove in free agency than to try to trade for him this week.

The Rockets are expected to use their leftover salary-cap space from last summer to extract an extra draft pick from teams looking to shed salary for luxury-tax reasons right before the trade buzzer.

Meanwhile Bradford Doolittle (ESPN Insider) examines whether Josh Smith is a max player (conclusion: his 4-year WARP is around the levels of Pau, Manu, Nash, Pierce and Nowitzki, so maybe probably yeah) and also eyes some trade possibilities. How ’bout Houston?

On the court, no team in the league would be a better fit for Smith. Can you imagine his elite athleticism fitting into an offensive lineup alongside James Harden, Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons, not to mention a defensive lineup with Smith backed up by Omer Asik’s elite rim protection?

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On the NBA: All-Star Weekend and Second Half Musings

By John Wilmes | February 19, 2013 at 8:01 pm

We all think we’re ready for a break, every time this weekend rolls around. Then, soon as it’s here, we’re starved for content and competition, again. NBA TV was wise, this year, to fill some of the empty air time with their MJ, Bill Russell, and Barkley interview pieces; each of the pieces was intriguing. But MJ’s pre-leaked comments from his sit-down with Ahmad Rashad, and those from his extended ESPN profile by Wright Thompson, cast a huge shadow on the weekend, as his suggestion that the league is now softer, more coddled, and less challenging was the biggest discussion piece throughout much of the media—and, one can likely assume, amongst some of the players. But comparing generations of players is always a slippery endeavor, to say the least. While it’s true that Michael’s 90’s boasted far more physical basketball than is now seen anywhere (this is simply a matter of the game’s constantly evolving set of rules), it’s also changed in other ways. Defensive schemes have become more complicated, for starters—this means a higher premium on ball movement, and finding gaps in team coverage to shoot more three-pointers in. According to the rules of Michael’s game, these defenses were penalized, and so he was regularly doing the best thing for this team by dominating in isolation play. The 90’s set of rules—while, arguably, leading to a worse brand of basketball—were more friendly to individual dominance, and stardom. Who knows if MJ could have dominated like he did against a Tom Thibodeau defense? Most likely he could have, because Michael was king of the league’s hill in a way unseen since Russell; and not seen since. And this is the one undeniable advantage: his competitive fervor was miles beyond anything in the league, now, and his desire for championships was profound enough to significantly elevate the play of not only his teammates, but also of the entire NBA around him. And until LeBron imposes his will onto his competitors in a similar way, I’m not convinced we’ll be clamoring to install so many red curtains for his 50th birthday.
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